Beautiful old Buicks

Rio Vista, CA
1965 National/Buick

Based on their popularity in California, I'm guessing the beacons are Supers. Note the siren mounting on top of the dash. Imagine the damage that could've been done to a front seat passenger's face if they had been thrown forward.

This is a VERY nice looking car. National did a great job with the old Flxible tooling, such as on the '66 Chevy posted by the other Steve L. in that thread.

(SL collection)
 

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CA Spec's

Anthony J. Rzucidlo said:
Nice looking unit, nice color scheme and nice utilization of emergency warning equipment. It does not have the busy look.
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Anthony: The CHP at the time and even now inspects and issues Operator Permits for Code-3 Operations and Equipment, both for public agencies and private operators. Although now they seem to have slacked off some in current years with allowing "the sky's the limit"... it lighting... back then, it was pretty much to their tested and proven standards that were very conservative including the must for at least one STEADY RED and a Flashing Rear Amber. They considered more lighting than necessary as potentially distracting to the motoring public. To this day no CA state ownd vehicle uses strobes for instance, only LED's.

A good example of this is the hauling Oversize Loads in CA... other states allow signs that say: "Oversize Load"... in CA they can only say "OVERSIZE" in 10" X 1" minimum stroke lettering... their theory is that is takes too long to read the extra wording, or that you can't see it well enough in inclement weather because of the additional or smaller lettering. MM
 
Since this car is 20 years old already (!) I guess it is appropriate to include it here. This is a 1990 S&S Buick commercial glass Victoria that I shot just after delivery to Jones-Behrens FH in Park Rapids, MN. I always thought these were beautifully styled cars; a nice change from the "converted wagon" look of the cars coming from Lima.

(Karsnia photos)
 

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Tony Karsnia said:
Since this car is 20 years old already (!) I guess it is appropriate to include it here. This is a 1990 S&S Buick commercial glass Victoria that I shot just after delivery to Jones-Behrens FH in Park Rapids, MN. I always thought these were beautifully styled cars; a nice change from the "converted wagon" look of the cars coming from Lima.
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These Buicks looked great with commercial glass, but even better with the full-length side door and no "dog leg."
 

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Flxible combinations w/window inserts

McDonald F.H. (?, ?)
1947 Premier

1950 Premier
Flxible's upper-end Premier models for 1950, based on Buick's Roadmaster series, featured the 152-hp Fireball straight-eight engine as standard equipment. The Dynaflow automatic transmission, introduced in 1948, was also standard on all Roadmasters. The "ambulance" inserts and whitewall tires were extra-cost options.

(factory photos)

The '50 models are my second-favorite year of Buick; in fact, I always fancied myself owning a '50 Jetback or Sedanet fastback one day (but probably not this color): http://rackandruin.blogspot.com/2009/01/gratuitous-buick-shot.html
 

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Steve Loftin said:
To my knowledge, there were only three long-wheelbase Buicks built by C/B in 1960...the lowtop ambulance in MN, the combination in IL, and this hightop that went to a well-known CA ambulance operator (attached).

The late Maury Baier, owner of the IL car, said he was told that by C/B in the early 1970s when he tried to buy a replacement tailpipe for his car.
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Mr. Baier, then owner of the Ford-Baier F.H. in Paxton, IL, acquired this car with the funeral home he bought in nearby Buckley (around 1970):

(SL photo)
 

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McDonald F.H. (?, ?)
1947 Premier

That particular car (a B23-747 Premier Combination Car) went to the McDonald Funeral Home of Picayune, Mississippi.
 
That 1964 Premier combination car (model FB61-64) is owned by the Byerly-Lindsey Funeral Home which is located at 123 N. Market Steet in Loudonville. This was formerly the Banks Funeral Home in front of which many Flxible factory photos were taken. Those photos must have been taken some time ago. I was down there wityh a friend last summer and the car has been completely restored and looks like new. It was even displayed at the Ohio Funeral Directors Convention. It has a green and white vinyl interior (almost all original) and is equipped with built-in rear compartment air-conditioning as well.
 
Beautiful OLD Buick

Here's a 1918-ish model; body builder unknown. Because it looks much like a hearse, I'm guessing it's a combination with removable AMBULANCE plates.

(SL collection)
 

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Weigand was a pretty loyal user of Buick-based equipment. I have seen a number of photos of Weigand owned Flxible-Buicks over the years. The ambulance in this 1918 ad could very well be a Galion, Ohio built Kunkle. There are some Kunkle styling characteristics evident in this nice example.
 
Trevose Heights Fire Co. (Richboro, PA)
1951 Premier

A note on the back says this photo was taken in September, 1953 in Rockledge, PA (I assume at a parade). Visible factory options include an automatic transmission, dual spotlights, C6 sirenlight, tunnel lights, and flashers below the headlights. The bell appears to have been installed locally.

(SL collection)
 

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According to McPherson - who checked the Flxible delivery records - that particular 1951 Premier ambulance (FB22-751) was delivered to the Trevose Heights Volunteer Fire Company of Trevose Heights, Pennsylvania on March 3, 1952, was Flxible body number 17187, had frame number 16134718 and engine number 63388997. He said the records do not indicate who sold the vehicle to them. He also noted that, for some unknown reason, there were a fair number of these '51 cars that did not get delivered until the early part of 1952.
 
'68 Trinity Royal Buick

This Trinity Buick was part of the Snyder Ambulance fleet out of Los Angeles. When I took these photos many years ago up in the Palmdale CA area, it was owned by Bobb Kosoff. He is the same person who at one time owned the infamous '63 Pontiac military ambulance that ran through Barrett-Jackson last year.
 

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Now....that is interesting. I'd never seen or even heard of a high headroom Trinity-Buick. Thanks for posting these images.
 
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